Rednex
Rednex | |
|---|---|
 Rednex in 2008 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Sweden |
| Genres | Eurodance Country Techno |
| Years active | 1994–present |
| Labels | Battery Records |
| Members | JulieAnne "Scarlet" Tulley Dagger Ace Ratclaw Joe Cagg |
| Past members | Jay Lee Boneduster Crock Mia "Whippy" Löfgren Jonas "Billy Ray" Nilsson Urban "BB Stiff" Landgren Kent "Bobby Sue" Olander Arne "Ken Tacky" Arstrand Mup Annika "Mary Joe" Ljungberg Jens "Snake" Sylsjö Anders "Maverick" Lundström |
| Website | rednexmusic.com |
Rednex is a Swedish techno/folk/bluegrass band. They had an international novelty hit with the song "Cotton Eye Joe" in 1994. Although extremely popular in Germany, where the band holds the record of most total weeks (25) at number one on the German singles chart over the past 30 years—scoring such hits as "Old Pop in an Oak", "The Spirit of the Hawk” and "Wish You Were Here"--"Cotton Eye Joe" remains Rednex's sole hit in the United States.
History
Band history
Rednex was initially the brainchild of Swedish producers Janne Ericsson, Örjan "Öban" Öberg, and Pat Reiniz,[1] who decided to try mixing country music with eurodance. The name "Rednex" was chosen as a deliberate misspelling of the word "rednecks". They reworked the traditional folk song "Cotton-Eyed Joe" into a dance song and released it in 1994, to huge worldwide success.
A debut album titled Sex & Violins followed the hit single Cotton Eye Joe, and Rednex went on to score other hits in Europe from that album (notably the up-tempo "Old Pop in an Oak" and the ballad "Wish You Were Here"). However, "Cotton Eye Joe" remains their only U.S. hit as of 2006 (#25 on the Billboard charts March 1995).
A follow up album entitled Farm Out was released in 2000 and found some success in Europe. Their single "The Spirit of the Hawk" was the most successful, finding particular popularity in Germany.
In 2001, the single "The Chase" was released, charting in Germany, and Switzerland and a further top 30 position was earned in Austria, later with the release of Cotton-Eye Joe 2002. In 2003, a greatest hits album was released entitled The Best of the West. It contained a selection of the hits mentioned above (the original versions), plus new material co-written and recorded by singer 'Scarlet'.
Band line-ups & personnel
The first female vocalist was Mary Joe (aka Karin Annika Ljungberg, who sang vocals on Sex & Violins). The second was Whippy (singing on Farm Out). The third who joined in 2001 was Scarlet (aka JulieAnne Tulley who is singing on Best of the West). At the end of 2004, Scarlet left to pursue a solo career and has worked with top DJs, and Producers like Jan Wayne, Jekyll & Hyde, DJ Gollum, Paul Oakenfold, Robert de Fresnes (Narcotic thrust). To kick off the 2005 season, Mary Joe returned.
Old members Crock, Dagger, and Ace remained within the group throughout female vocalist changes, until later being replaced or leaving due to disagreements within the group.
They recorded their songs with studio musicians, and a group of redneck role players to represent the group on stage and in music videos was put together. Over the years, these performers have come and gone, and as of 2007 there have been 15 different role players. Though these stage actors were not involved in the actual music making in the beginning (except for the female vocalists, who have always sung on the records), they are responsible for the Rednex image and live shows as a whole, and thus are considered just as much part of the group as the actual musicians.
2006 comeback
The group launched something of a minor comeback when they entered the song "Mama Take Me Home" in Semifinal 4 of the Swedish Melodifestivalen on 11 March 2006 in Gothenburg. They qualified for the final via the Second Chance Round, finishing an overall sixth in the final. The song "Mama Take Me Home" was subsequently released as a single in a few select European countries.
Their comeback continued as they released the single "Fe Fi (The Old Man Died)" in November 2006, after having performed it at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. It was surprisingly successful, reaching #4 in the Swedish Charts.
They also sang at the 2005 IAAF World Championships in Athletics, in Helsinki.
In 2007 they were going to take part in the Romanian national final in the preselection for Eurovision, together with the Romanian band Ro-Mania. The song planned for the performance was Well-o-Wee. However, Rednex was disqualified since the judges deemed that several parts of the song had been published and performed as early as 2001.
In 2008 they entered the Romanian Eurovision selection once again, in another collaboration with the band Ro-Mania. The song RailRoad, RailRoad qualified for the semifinals, but failed to qualify for the final. After the withdrawal of another song however, it reentered the final contest to be held in Bucharest on February 23.
The new Song "Football is Our Religion" was an unofficial Song for the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship which took place in Austria and Switzerland June 2008. Subsequently the song went to number 1 in the Swedish charts late summer of 2008.
In 2007, Rednex AB was put on sale on eBay, starting at $1,500,000.[1]
2009 trademark coup
According to a Rednex press release,[2] the band members Annika “Mary Joe” Ljungberg, Anders “Maverick” Lundström and Jens “Snake” Sylsjö were exchanged on January 1, 2009, bringing back former members Scarlet, Dagger, Ace Ratclaw and Joe Cagg. Mary Joe, Maverick and Snake were still touring as "The Cotton Eye Joe Show presented by the Rednex Band Ltd". This has caused the trademark owners Rednex AB to threaten them and concert organizers with legal action[3] resulting in the cancellation of some shows.[4]
Annika Ljungberg's trademark coup includes claiming the rights to the domain name rednex.se. Rednex AB accuse Annika Ljungberg of “spreading economical damage, lies, ulcer and insomnia like a plague not only within the Rednex group but also other parts of Swedish show business and it is growing”.[5]
2009-10 releases
A new video was recorded on August 27 in Norrbyggeby in Sweden for the upcoming single "Devil's On The Loose".[6] The song is the first single from the upcoming album "Saturday Night Beaver". On 7 January 2010 the single was released in a partnership with The Pirate Bay for free and legal download worldwide.[7][8]
Discography
Studio albums
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales threshold) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUT [9] |
CAN [10] |
FIN [11] |
NL [12] |
NOR [13] |
NZ [14] |
SWE [15] |
SWI [16] |
UK [17] |
US [18] | |||||
| Sex & Violins |
|
2 | 37 | 14 | 27 | 2 | 21 | 3 | 1 | 146 | 68 | |||
| Farm Out |
|
34 | — | — | — | — | — | 60 | 16 | — | — | |||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||||||||||||
Compilation albums
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| The Best of the West |
|
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales threshold) |
Album | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUT [21] |
GER [22] |
NL [23] |
NOR [24] |
SWE [25] |
SWI [26] |
UK [27] |
US [28] |
US Dance [29] |
US Pop [30] | |||||
| 1994 | "Cotton Eye Joe" | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 25 | 5 | 30 | Sex & Violins | ||
| "Old Pop in an Oak" | 1 | 2 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 12 | — | — | — |
| |||
| 1995 | "Wish You Were Here" | 1 | 1 | 26 | 1 | 3 | 1 | — | — | — | — |
| ||
| "Wild 'N Free" | 12 | 18 | — | — | 37 | 24 | 55 | — | — | — | ||||
| "Rolling Home" | 18 | 42 | — | — | 32 | — | 90 | — | — | — | ||||
| 1997 | "Riding Alone" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 1999 | "The Way I Mate" | 22 | 34 | 58 | — | 22 | 37 | — | — | — | — | Farm Out | ||
| 2000 | "The Spirit of the Hawk" | 1 | 1 | 78 | — | 10 | 3 | — | — | — | — |
| ||
| "Hold Me for a While" | 16 | 25 | — | — | — | 19 | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 2001 | "The Chase" | 44 | 65 | — | — | — | 54 | — | — | — | — | The Best of the West | ||
| 2002 | "Cotton Eye Joe" (remix) | 32 | 83 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 2006 | "Mama Take Me Home" | — | — | — | — | 3 | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album songs | ||
| "Fe Fi (The Old Man Died)" | — | — | — | — | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 2007 | "Anyway You Want Me" | — | — | — | — | 8 | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Looking for a Star" | — | — | — | — | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 2008 | "Railroad, Railroad" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Football Is Our Religion" | — | 59 | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 2010 | "Devil's on the Loose" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||||||||||||
References
- ^ a b Billboard.biz (2007-05-14). Rednex On Sale For $1.5 Million. Retrieved on 2007-06-16.
- ^ rednexforsale.com (2008-09-26). Rednex exchanges the whole band!. Retrieved on 2008-09-27.
- ^ Fraud Reports (2009-05-25). Fraud Reports. Retrieved on 2009-05-25.
- ^ Nerikes Allehanda (2009-05-25). Annika Ljungberg abuses the Rednex trademark. Retrieved on 2009-05-25.
- ^ Nyheter24.se (2009-05-25). The Rednex copy. Retrieved on 2009-05-25.
- ^ Norrtelje Tidning (2009-08-28). Rednex video recording of Devil's On The Loose. Retrieved on 2009-08-28.
- ^ http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5263628/Rednex_-_Devils_On_The_Loose_-_2010_-_TPB003. Retrieved on 2010-01-07.
- ^ http://www.rednexmusic.com/ 2010-01-07
- ^ "austriancharts.at - Austria Top 40". Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
- ^ "Results - RPM - Library and Archives Canada - Top Albums/CDs". RPM. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
- ^ "finnishcharts.com - Finnish charts portal". Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
- ^ "dutchcharts.nl - Dutch charts portal". Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
- ^ "norwegiancharts.com - Norwegian charts portal". Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
- ^ "charts.org.nz - New Zealand charts portal". Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
- ^ "swedishcharts.com - Swedish charts portal". Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
- ^ "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community". Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
- ^ "Chart Log UK: The Rabble Army - RZA". The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
- ^ "Rednex : Allmusic : Billboard Singles". Allmusic. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
- ^ a b c d e "IFPI Austria - Verband der Osterreichischen Musikwirtschaft". IFPI. Retrieved April 16, 2011.
- ^ "Canadian album certifications – Rednex – Sex and Violins". Music Canada.
- ^ "austriancharts.at - Austria Top 40". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 16, 2011.
- ^ "Die ganze Musik im Internet: Charts - German Singles". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 16, 2011.
- ^ "dutchcharts.nl - Dutch charts portal". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 16, 2011.
- ^ "norwegiancharts.com - Norwegian charts portal". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 16, 2011.
- ^ "swedishcharts.com - Swedish charts portal". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 16, 2011.
- ^ "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 16, 2011.
- ^ "Chart Stats - Rednex". chartstats.com. Retrieved April 16, 2011.
- ^ "Rednex Album & Song Chart History - Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved April 16, 2011.
- ^ "Rednex Album & Song Chart History - Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved April 16, 2011.
- ^ "Rednex Album & Song Chart History - Pop Songs". Billboard. Retrieved April 16, 2011.
- ^ "BPI Searchable Database". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved April 16, 2011.
- ^ "RIAA - Gold & Platinum - April 16, 2011: "Cotton Eye Joe" certified awards". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved April 16, 2011.
External links
